Adams City High School in Commerce City, part of the Adams County School District 14, is seen on Nov. 28, 2018. Adams 14’s future is unclear as the district and neighboring Mapleton Public Schools struggle to come to a partnership agreement. The Colorado State Board of Education decided in November to wrest most control of Adams 14 away from its local school board and turn over formal decision-making authority to an outside management group.

The demand, issued late Wednesday night, is just the latest twist in an unprecedented chain of events for a Colorado school district.

In November, the Colorado State Board of Education ordered the Adams 14 board to hand over much of the authority for managing the Commerce City-based district to a third party. The order, the first of its kind in Colorado, came after years of poor test scores and low graduation rates, as well as a federal civil rights investigation.

After multiple public meetings, the Adams 14 board voted in February to partner with Denver-based Mapleton Public Schools. The state board denied their joint application in March, suggesting they consider adding another partner with more experience in turning around underperforming schools.

In an open letter to the state board, eight officers in the School District 14 Classroom Teachers’ Association complained the board had ignored community input and failed to hold district leadership accountable. They also asked the board to order Adams 14 to sign a contract with Mapleton by its next meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday.

“You are well aware that the current Adams 14 Board of Education and superintendent are unable to manage our district,” the union officers wrote. “Yet on March 14, when you had an opportunity to bring the proven leadership of one of Colorado’s longest-serving superintendents to Adams 14, you chose to focus only on Mapleton’s test scores and not the skill and experience it takes to manage an entire system.”

Jeremy Meyer, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, said the state board won’t discuss Adams 14’s situation at its April meeting, but it could come up in May.

Looking for “a speedy resolution”

The Adams 14 school board met Wednesday to discuss the situation, but took no action. District spokesman John Poynton said the board would reach out to Mapleton again to set up a meeting to strengthen their application.

“I would see this as an opportunity yet again to reach out to Mapleton,” he said.

Melissa Johnson, spokeswoman for Mapleton Public Schools, said the district is waiting for more specific information before commenting on how the districts could move forward.

The state board set a July 1 deadline for Adams 14 to begin working with a partner. It isn’t clear if the board will extend that deadline if an agreement doesn’t emerge quickly. If the board determined Adams 14 hadn’t complied with its orders, it could reorganize the district and convert its schools to charters, Meyer said.

Poynton declined to say if the Adams 14 board is concerned about the timeline.

“I think it’s fair to say that everyone would like to see a speedy resolution,” he said.

Whoever gets the contract to manage Adams 14 will have considerable authority. Under the state board’s order, the third party will be responsible for recommending changes to staff contracts, curriculum, professional development and scheduling, among other areas.

Adams 14 schools have struggled to improve students’ performance on standardized tests and graduation rates for years. About 64 percent of Adams 14 students graduate in four years, which is well below the state average of 81 percent.

Many of its students start with challenges, because 85 percent come from low-income families and more than half are learning English as a second language. Still, Adams 14 has a higher rate of students who live within its borders opting to attend school elsewhere than any other district in the state, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

The district also has had higher-than-average teacher turnover in recent years, and was blasted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2014 for creating a “hostile environment” for English-language learners, including pushing out bilingual teachers and forbidding students to speak Spanish during recess.

Mapleton pointed to its graduation rate, which rose from 53 percent in 2012 to 74 percent in 2018, as well as a history of working well with unions and communities, as evidence that it could help turn around Adams 14.

An analysis by Colorado Department of Education staff noted that three of Mapleton’s schools still don’t meet state expectations for student performance and growth, however, and raised questions about whether Mapleton had the staff necessary to turn around another district while running its own.

A third party is proposed

After the state board rejected its application, Adams 14 proposed adding MGT, an education consulting group, to the partnership. Mapleton Superintendent Charlotte Ciancio objected, saying that the districts shouldn’t add a third partner without input from the community.

“That’s not the proposal that the community had seen and it’s not the proposal the community had selected,” she said.

Poynton said he wasn’t sure as if the Adams 14 board still was considering adding MGT to the partnership after the Wednesday meeting. He declined to comment on the differences in the districts’ positions.

Meg Wingerter came to Denver from The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, where she covered health. She previously worked at Kansas News Service, The Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal and The Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle. She grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Michigan State University.

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